As I wrote yesterday, Erdogan is having a field day. The Turkish opposition, which accuses him of an unprovoked attack on the Russian plane, has been branded “traitors,” and the local equivalent of VTsIOM (Russia’s state-run public opinion research center), I’m sure, is already preparing a press release: “Erdogan’s approval rating has hit yet another record.”
On talk shows, the local warmongering crooks are singing his praises.
The nation is proud of its military shield.
They’ve risen from their knees. They won’t tolerate humiliation — all that stuff you hear on Channel One (Russia’s main state TV channel), only in Turkish and performed by the local freaks.
So far, we’ve had lots of threatening statements, but as usual, the most combat-ready military unit has turned out to be Rosselkhoznadzor (Russia’s agricultural watchdog), which promptly discovered some kind of listeria in Turkish chicken.
The whole country wants to “stick it to Turkey.” And of course, we have to impose some serious sanctions — I’ll repeat once again, Erdogan shot down our plane for PR and propaganda reasons, not military ones or out of security concerns. This can’t just be swept under the rug, but there must be no military escalation either.
It seems to me that our first step, instead of all this hypocritical nonsense about chicken or tourists, should be the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The timing is perfect; it’s a specifically political measure, but an extremely painful one for Turkey. It falls exactly into the category of “oh really? well then we’ll...” and would have major repercussions.
That’s where we should start.
P.S.
A lot of people are writing, “but Wikipedia says the Armenian Genocide has already been recognized.” Well yes, there is a 1995 State Duma statement condemning the genocide.
But we’re talking about political symbolism. The Armenian Genocide can be recognized over and over again (and some countries do exactly that). The level of recognition can be raised. You can, as in France, punish genocide denial. You can condemn countries that do not recognize the genocide. You can recognize it and assign responsibility. You can establish remembrance days. You can work toward broader international recognition.
There’s no need to think so simplistically — as if once it’s been recognized, there’s nothing more to do. We won once in 1945, yet in 2015 we talk about it 146 times more than in 1950, when it wasn’t even an official holiday. This is diplomacy, symbols, public opinion, and all those kinds of things. For Turkey, another clear step in that direction would be very, very painful.